Last night we stayed up quite late trying to determine where the path of hurricane Milton would land in Florida. The 6 hour time difference between Nice and Florida is not a good thing when we knew we needed to get some sleep, but we were worried about our house and our neighbours and friend’s houses too.
As a result of not getting much sleep last night, we both slept in unti 9:45am this morning! It is unbelievable that we could sleep that late considering we are almost downtown Nice! Being on the 6th floor in a quiet condo sure is nice!
We decided that today we would make our way to Antibes and looked at 2 ways of getting there. On the bus or on the train. We wanted to get bus passes anyway, so we walked over to the Main Street in Nice (Jean Medecin) and used the ticket machine to get 2 loaded transit passes. From what I could tell we needed to take the purple route bus 12 to the mall past the airport and then transfer to another bus.
We waited about 15 minutes for the #12 bus to arrive and then boarded the bus until the end of the line at the mall, at which point there was no other bus stop or place to inquire on where we could get the bus to Antibes. Richard in his quick thinking way went back to ask the bus driver where we were supposed to get the bus to Antibes? Apparently we should have got off one stop earlier than we did and wait for the bus that says ‘Cannes’ on it and then board that bus.
We had about a 10 minute walk over the highway on a pedestrian bridge to get back to the previous bus stop and almost as soon as we got back to the bus stop, the bus to Cannes arrived. Richard had to pay 5 euros for us to board this new bus since our transit passes from Nice didn’t work on this bus.
Richard had gotten a route map from the bus driver and we were trying to figure out which stop in Antibes we needed to get off at. Luckily a nice lady sitting next to us was quite familiar with Antibes and she told Richard in French which stop we should get off and also showed us photos of places in Antibes so we had our bearings on where we should go in the old town centre of Antibes.
When we got off the bus, we then followed the signs to Vielle Ville Port Vauban.
We love pedestrian streets in France.
Richard taking in all the cafes and enjoying a beautiful day in Antibes.
This flea market was closing up but I still had to have a little look see!
I had looked up some points of interest for photography in Antibes so I knew approximately where we needed to be along the sea in Antibes. In the meantime, we enjoyed meandering down the pedestrian streets of Antibes looking at the shops, a little market and the beautiful people sitting out in outdoor cafes enjoying the 24C or 75F degree day.
Antibes has always been an important historic trading post and was founded by the Greeks in the 5th century BC. Originally Antibes was called ‘Antipolis’ and the town was also a part of the Roman Empire. Once the Roman Empire collapsed, Antibes suffered centuries of unrest and consistent invasions by various barbarians. It wasn’t until the 15th century when Antibes came under French rule that the town actually settled. In 1850 wealthy nobles became attracted to the natural beauty of Antibes and the building of villas and large holiday homes began. After the first luxury hotel was constructed in 1870, many of the world’s jet set, elite and rich continued to flock to Antibes and it still remains an international destination for the rich and famous today.
As we were walking I saw a sliver of the Mediterranean Sea in the distance so I said “This way!” And we walked up a ramp to find ourselves with a beautiful vista in front of us!
Sunbathing in October on the beach in Antibes! What a sheltered cove! A perfect spot for swimming and sunbathing in the Mediterranean Sea. Nice has a rocky shoreline so I can see why people would prefer to be in the smaller City of Antibes with its gorgeous sandy beach!
In the distance on the Rampart I could see a large sculpture that I wanted to get a close up photo of, so we had to figure out how to get there from where we were, which involved going down some stairs and walking along the narrow bottom section of the Rampart until we reached some steps to climb back up to the sculpture.
We are almost there.
Le Nomade
Le Nomade is a large sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa and sits atop the restored waterfront fort. The large Nomade looks very delicate since it is made of a lace of stainless steel letters. The face of the man is empty and opens up to the sea.
The same sculptor also did another art installation in Nice which I took a photo of yesterday at Place Messina, not even realizing that it was done by the same artist which is called “Conversation in Nice”. I only got one of the guys sitting on top of a post, but apparently there are more and they light up at night, so now we have a reason to go back to Place Messina at night in Nice to take some photos of the “Converation in Nice”.
Yachts in Port Vauban, Antibes
Mega yachts!
The rampart along the coast of Antibes.
Looking at the mega luxury yachts in Port Vauban, Antibes, it is easy to understand why the rich and famous dock their yachts in the biggest port on the Mediterranean in the beautiful town of Antibes!
Falafel sandwich for me!
Chicken schwarma sandwich for Richard with French fries in the sandwich too!
By now we were both pretty hungry since it was 3:15pm and we still hadn’t eaten any lunch. We had passed by a cafe which had middle eastern food called ‘Falafel’ and we quickly ordered some takeout sandwiches to eat at the cafe’s tables. The food was delicious and very inexpensive at 20 euros.
When I was packing for this trip at the very last minute I took my HOKA running shoes out of my suitcase. I don’t know why I did it, but I did. Anyway, today I thought I would be fashionable and wear my new red and white shoes. They looked so nice with what I was wearing today! BIG MISTAKE! I always carry blister tape on me since I can’t afford to get blisters when I’m golfing or feel my socks rubbing in my shoes. We have stopped countless times today to tape up my feet and its not working! I now have blisters on the back of both of my heels and we still have to walk around Antibes and get to the train station to get home! This is not fun! Why oh why didn’t I bring my HOKAS?
We made it to the Antibes train station and got to the right track too!
Richard hugging his knapsack on the SNCF train to Nice from Antibes
We limped our way through Antibes looking for a shoe store that might sell comfortable shoes, but we had no luck, so I taped up my feet and we decided to try and find the Antibes SNCF train station. After the long (1.5 hour bus ride) to Antibes, we decided to spend 5.70 euros each and take the 24 minute train back to Nice.
We decided that dinner tonight would be leftovers for Richard and a salad for me instead of trying to walk around Nice with sore, tired, blistered feet. Luckily I bought some Biafine cream which the French swear is great for burns, cuts and blisters, so my feet are slathered in it and I sure hope it works fast!
So besides your passport, money and a companion (hubby Richard) the most important thing to bring on vacation is…..COMFORTABLE SHOES! You guessed it!
Tomorrow we have a very special dinner planned at an iconic restaurant in Nice! When I saw the restaurant online as a highlight of Nice, I had Richard make a reservation over a month ago! But first….NEW HOKA’s or BIRKENSTOCKS are in order for me tomorrow! I cannot keep walking around on vacation with sore feet!
Our home survived the hurricane! Our lanai screens are mostly out and our yard needed 8 hours of labour by 2 guys today under the expert supervision of our friend and neighbour Ray Page. We did not lose power and Plant City is not under a boil water advisory. Our golf club Lone Palm, in Lakeland is underwater on 4 holes. It is quite a mess which will take time to clean up. There are a lot of people in worse conditions than what we experienced in Plant City last night. It is still shocking to see the videos that we’ve been seeing today from various parts of Florida. Prayers that there will not be any more hurricanes so Floridians can catch a break and recover from Helene and Milton!!!!
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